Carl-Henning Pedersen

The Danish CoBrA artist Carl-Henning Pedersen (Copenhagen, 1913) is exhibiting some 50 early works on paper in the Cobra Museum as well as a limited number of paintings from the CoBrA period.

Pedersen achieved wide acclaim especially for his early imaginative and colourful drawings and made an innovative contribution to modern art. His drawings also left a big impression on his CoBrA friends: Karel Appel, Constant and Corneille were all inspired in their early artistic careers by Pedersen’s marvellous fantasy world on paper.

The artist created a colourful, strange fairytale world on paper, populated by giant birds, golden ships, amazing starry skies, horses and creatures of every conceivable form and type. These were all drawn and painted with oil pastels, watercolour, gouache, pen and ink. Small wonder that in his own country Pedersen was seen as the Hans Christian Andersen of the Danish painting world. Both children and adults will gain much pleasure from Pedersen’s cheerful and lively drawings.

The exhibition represents a unique opportunity to see so many early works of an artist, extremely famous in Denmark, in this country. The works are on loan from the Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Altfelt Museum in Herning (Jutland).